Thane girl’s docu nominated for award at California fest

Thane resident Jayshree Kharpade’s documentary film, which won an international award for portraying the lives of brick kiln workers’ children, has been nominated for an award at the MY HERO International Film Festival at California this year.

The 27-minute film made by 15-year-old Kharpade, a tribal girl from Wada taluka of Thane district, had earlier this year won an award at the Asian American Film Festival held in New York.

MLA from Thane district and Shramjivi Sangathana founder Vivek Pandit said on Friday that he had received a communication from Daniel Chavez, an officer from the MY HERO festival, that the documentary film 'Fire In Our Hearts' had been accepted as a finalist in their 2012 event.

Pandit said that a few years ago, one of his volunteers had seen Kharpade working as a child labour at a brick-manufacturing unit with her parents, had rescued her and enrolled her in Eklavaya Parivartan Vidyalaya — their school for poor children.

“Hollywood director Joyce Chopra, who runs By Kids, a non-profit organisation, met Jayshree when she visited our sanghatana a year ago. After hearing her story, she asked her to make a film on her own life,” said Pandit.The final award winners of MY HERO festival will be declared at the end of this month and prize distribution will be held on December 15 at Ray Storck Theater, California.